EL PASO -- She was only 14 years old, about 5 feet 2 inches tall when a man tried to rape her in the Northeast desert in 1980 -- an ordeal that lasted only 10 minutes but has haunted her for 29 years.

Jeannette Brown identified her attacker from a police photo album as David Leonard Wood, who 12 years after the attack would be convicted of killing six girls and young women and then sentenced to death.

After news of Wood's pending execution brought back memories of the painful experience, Brown, 43, visited the site of the attack last week and told her story for the first time.

She said she would have been killed that day but Wood may have been spooked by a car that was parked in the desert. That car belonged to a police detective who was there on another case, a coincidence Brown believes saved her life.

Wood escaped by only a few minutes.

If he had been caught, Brown said, Wood's victims would be alive now.

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Wood, who has denied killing the women, lost several appeals, and was set to be executed Aug. 20 in Huntsville. However, the Texas Criminal Court of Appeals issued a stay of execution on Aug. 19 and ordered a hearing to determine if he is mentally retarded.

Brown traveled to El Paso to find out whether Wood had served time for the alleged crime against her, and to help confirm that he was guilty of killing the women.

"I have nothing to gain from this," Brown said. "I know he killed those girls. He would have killed me, too."

A court convicted Wood in 1992 of murdering six girls and young women in 1987, and burying their bodies in shallow graves in the same desert area he took Brown. Most of his victims were young and petite.

Brown crossed paths with Wood after an argument with her mother over a gray kitten.

She said she got upset after her mother told her she could not keep it.

"I bolted out of the house with the kitten and started walking towards McCombs," she said. "I was crying when a white car pulled up alongside me. The man in the car offered me a ride. I ignored him at first. He kept insisting on giving me a ride, and I started to feel embarrassed by this car that kept pace with me.

"I was still crying and feeling embarrassed, so I accepted the ride. But, the moment I got inside his car, I knew I had made a terrible mistake."

Wood headed toward the desert between McCombs and Dyer. At the time, Wood lived on Hermes Street, also in the Northeast. She remembers that a song by Dr. Hook was playing on the car radio.

"We drove on a main road," Brown said. "I was in his car about five to eight minutes when he took a turn into the desert and made another turn. We passed a car that was parked there. Then, we went over a hill and disappeared into the desert."

After he stopped, Wood used his right arm to pull Brown out of the car through the driver's side.

Then, without warning, he slammed her on the ground hard and yelled, "Don't ever get into a car with a (expletive) stranger."

Wood got on top of Brown and began groping her in a rough manner.

"I started screaming, and he started choking me. He choked me several times. Then, I yelled out at him, 'I never did anything to you.'"

Wood stopped suddenly and said, 'I know, I know.'"

Brown said Wood seemed angry and worried about the screaming. He got up and told her, "Don't (expletive) move. If you move I am going to (expletive) kill you.'"

Wood went inside his car and sat there for a few minutes, while Brown sat on the ground, paralyzed with fear.

"That's when I thought, this is it. He went to get a knife or some other weapon, and he's going to kill me. This is how my life is going to end," she said.

Wood started up his car and drove away slowly. Brown said she spotted the kitten and picked it up once she knew she would be safe.

Shortly after that, the detective who was in the desert investigating a man's death approached. The car she and Wood saw when they entered the desert was his.

Brown was so scared she did not want to get into the detective's car even after he showed her his badge.

"When I think back on this, the detective being out there that day is what saved my life," she said. "The detective was so close to catching him. It all happened so quick. If the police had caught Wood in the act that day in the desert, none of the rest -- the murders -- would have happened. They probably would have kept him locked up."

Several patrol cars drove to the site, and Brown agreed to let one of the officers take her home.

She and her mother gave statements to police, and Brown went to the police station to look at a photo album. Out of dozens of pictures, she picked out Wood's mug as soon as she saw it.

Brown said her mother, who was widowed and was raising the family alone, was reluctant to press charges because she feared retaliation by Wood.

Maria Brown, the mother, confirmed her daughter's account and accompanied her daughter to the site of the alleged attack.

Wood has declined requests by the El Paso Times to be interviewed.

Nothing came of Jeannette Brown's report, and later, Jeannette Brown contacted John Guerrero, a former detective who served on the Northeast desert deaths task force. She offered to testify at Wood's murder trial, but he told her they had enough witnesses available.

"After that, I suppressed the experience again," Jeannette Brown said. "I had nightmares and crying spells. I left El Paso when I was 19 years old because of what Wood did to me."

Jeannette Brown said she is willing to help authorities with the case if they think her testimony will help.

"The girls (Wood) killed do not have a voice. They cannot tell anyone that it was David Wood who took them to the desert and attacked them and killed them.

"I can, and I wasn't the only one there. There was a detective in the desert who wrote down David Wood's license plate. He saw him go into the desert with me. David Wood did the same thing to me that he did to those little girls, the only difference is that I survived."

Wood was sentenced to death after a jury in Dallas convicted him in 1992 of the 1987 murders of Desiree Wheatley, Ivy Susanna Williams, Karen Baker, Janet Casio, Dawn Smith and Angelica Frausto.

He is also a suspect in the 1987 disappearances of Marjorie Knox, Melissa Alaniz and Cheryl Vasquez-Dismukes.

Lawyers with the Texas Defenders Service, which focuses on death row cases, have filed a motion arguing that Wood should not be executed because he is mentally retarded.

Jeannette Brown says the argument that Wood is mentally retarded is nonsense

"Absolutely not. He is a predator. He is very cunning," she said. "He knew he had malicious intent. He knew exactly what he was doing. Retarded? Absolutely not."

Diana Washington Valdez may be reached at dvaldez@elpasotimes.com; 546-6140.